Presenter
Artist, Business Owner
As a teenager, Catherine Russ was significantly influenced by The Active Eye (1975), a photography exhibition at the Manawatū Art Gallery. Inspired by her night school tutor, Elam art graduate Kathryn McCool, Russ photographed scenes and people exploring Te Papaioea, including Ladies Rest and the protests responding to its planned extensions in the early 2000s.
In 2001, Russ established Thermostat Gallery and, more recently, has rekindled her own art practice with the series Park Up, exhibited at Te Manawa and Aratoi (Masterton). Russ has featured in the New Zealand Journal of Photography and Art New Zealand, and has exhibited across Aotearoa, as well as at New Zealand House (London).
A founding member of the Public Sculpture Trust, she also co-owns the Palmerston North T-shirt business “Pork Chop Hill”.